Warranties for the Surface RT and Surface Pro: Surface RT and Surface Pro both come with "at least" a one-year warranty, a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed. (Some countries require two-year-minimum warranty.) Microsoft also offers for purchase from Microsoft an additional "Microsoft Complete" extended service plan that is different from the base-level warranty for these devices. Complete must be purchased within 45 days of the date of device purchase.

Surface RT trade-in program? "There is no hardware trade-in or upgrade program at this time," company officials said during last week's Reddit session. "We are confident people will love the devices they purchase but if there are any issues that arise we have a 14 day in-store return policy and a 30 day online store return policy."

"Surface Pro uses Windows Inbox Drivers and APIs (application programming interfaces) for the Surface pen, which support advanced features such as pressure sensitivity and eraser functionality. There are a number of apps in the Store that leverage these new Windows APIs and can take advantage of all that the Surface pen has to offer. The Surface pen does work with Photoshop, which runs on Surface Pro, though advanced features such as pressure sensitivity and eraser functionality may not be available at this time. Microsoft is working with the necessary partners to make advanced features of the Surface pen available across a number of applications in the near future."

More colors likely coming for Surface covers: Microsoft's Touch covers come in a handful of colors (black, white, red, magenta and cyan), but its Type cover currently comes in black only. During last week's Reddit Q&A, when asked whether there would be more colors coming for both kinds of covers, the Surface Team responded said there would be more Touch cover colors coming "soon" and that colorful Type covers will be "likely will over time." (No one asked if Microsoft planned to make the Surfaces themselves in different colors, as my ZDNet colleague Matthew Baxter-Reynolds is advocating.)

Will Microsoft make Surface Pro and/or RT on volume-license contracts: "Outside of what we've already publicly shared in regards to pricing, don't have anything else to add," a spokesperson said.

About the author

Mary Jo Foley has been a tech journalist for almost 30 years. She is editor of ZDNet's "All About Microsoft" blog. She authored "Microsoft 2.0: How Microsoft Plans to Stay Relevant in the Post-Gates Era" and co-hosts the "Windows Weekly" podcast on the TWiT Network.
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